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No games, no injuries — not even suffered in practice — and no speculation over who gets the next start in goal.

The cockamamie schedule, after burdening Toronto with three back-to-back assignments in October, has now given the team a near week-long respite from their labours. That’s worked to the club’s benefit as Randy Carlyle ponders 1) how to plug injury holes on the roster, and 2) how to fix statistical anomalies, shots on goal and puck possession, that have characterized Leaf play without exacting too much of a toll in the outcome, at least not until reality bit hard against Vancouver last Saturday.

From the coach’s scrum came the nugget that Toronto must play more “workmanlike than cute” hockey. Wait, let me write that down.

Even the endlessly scrutinizing Leaf beat media that leave no fart unrecorded have just about run out of off-day angles, which is why we marched into the dressing room at MasterCard Arena on Wednesday morning and stood there stumped.

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Aha, there’s David Clarkson, ex-Devil, with New Jersey in town Friday evening. We sidle over as one multi-headed creature, sprouting microphones and cameras and notebooks. Some 50 hours still remain before the clubs line up at the Air Canada Centre but let’s all play: Pick Clarkson’s Brain.

The Mimico-born Clarkson — as a kid he attended 2013 Hall of Fame inductee Brendan Shanahan’s hockey school out there in the wilds swallowed up by Etobicoke — admits he’s been following with interest the stunning saga of Mayor Rob Ford, but, darn, wouldn’t make any comment on the matter.

Which is a shame, because Ford’s misadventures have occasionally converged with the Leafs, whether being tossed from a game for drunkenly loud-mouth behaviour (in his councillor days) or going out trick-or-treating with his kids last week wearing a Leaf jersey.

Pity, because six years spent in the political mosh pit of New Jersey — more than 100 public officials arrested in the past decade, including the indictment of Trenton’s mayor on federal corruption charges — might have provided Clarkson with insight into the phenomenon of pols-gone-bad-and-boohoo.

Okay okay, we’ll stick to hockey.

This will be Clarkson’s first time facing his former club. That’s always a weird sensation, as much as he claims he’s approaching it like just another game.

“But I was there for a long time. I had a lot of friends there. I have the utmost respect for Mr. (Lou) Lamoriello, and I’ve been lucky enough to play for that coaching staff, especially Peter De Boer, someone I believe has made me successful in my career by giving me the opportunity and believing in me and understanding me as a person. I believe (they’re) the reason that I’m playing in the NHL today.”

Playing in the NHL as a Leaf, after serving his 10-game suspension — automatic sentence, issued by Shanahan — over a pre-season incident wherein Clarkson left the bench to join a brawl triggered by Buffalo enforcer John Scott dropping his gloves and going after Phil Kessel.

So Clarkson had to bide his time before joining a Leaf program already in progress, and the delay has sometimes shown in the past five games since his season started.

Carlyle’s assessment of Clarkson so far: “I think I saw energy. I saw a guy committed to playing the body. I saw a guy who looked like he missed the first 10 games of the season, in some situations. I think, again, we just want him to continue to be a physical player, a player we can count on night in and night out. I think that’s what his vision is also.”

Maybe not quite so much, actually.

Clarkson was Dave Nonis’ marquee free agent acquisition over the summer, signing him to a seven-year, $36.75 (U.S.) million contract. It would be fair to wonder whether a checking grit guy is what the GM had in mind, or whether Clarkson ever shared the vision as professed by Carlyle. This is a guy who scored 30 goals two seasons ago on a team that has always worshipped at the altar of team defence.

Freshly back, Clarkson was on a checking line with Dave Bolland — now lost to a long-term ankle injury — and Mason Raymond. This week, he’s been practicing with Nazem Kadri at centre and Raymond on the wing as the forward combinations have been reassembled.

“Randy’s had me playing a different role. He had me, Bolland and Raymond playing against the other team’s top line, basically wanting us to shut them down. Whatever the coach asks of you, that’s what you do.

“In Jersey I was used to playing a different role for the last four years and was successful doing that. Coming to a new situation where Randy’s trying to feel me out . . . I don’t know. Whatever the coach asks, that’s what you do. He’s your boss. You go there and do what he asks.”

“We know how he plays, we know the energy he brings,” says Kadri of his new linemate. “Now we’re looking at going out and making some plays, finding some chemistry.

“He’s trying to be responsible out there and I think he’s doing a great job of it. Sometimes it’s a little tough when you’re in his shoes (coming in after missing 10) . . . getting thrown into things. It’s hard to get your rhythm back. We’ll try to get him a couple of goals but I think facing his old team will be good.”

Clarkson tries not to attach too much importance to the absence of offensive numbers that have resulted — just one assist in five games, taking comfort from ice-time awarded in the shut-down role.

“Whatever that role is, you find a way to make it your own. If your job is to go out there and make sure the other team doesn’t score, you better go out on the ice and make sure the other team doesn’t score.”

He notes his line didn’t have a goal scored on them until Vancouver. Of course, these are not details that show up on highlight reels.

“It doesn’t change my mindset. It might change what you guys write or think but that doesn’t matter to me.”

Still, Clarkson had evolved from the checker and fighter he was in the early chunk of his career. Now he’s back where he started, albeit for a lot more money.

That is what the Leafs need from him at the moment. The needs have changed.

“Bringing me here was part of the reason — they needed me. I wasn’t waiting for an injury. I didn’t sign here for seven years to wait for an injury or something to happen. I don’t see it as more of an opportunity.

“I’m just trying to get to know my surroundings, trying to fit in as a piece of the puzzle, whatever that is.”

And, Friday, sever the emotional umbilical cord with Jersey maybe?

“I think I cut that cord when I signed my contract here. This is the next chapter of my life, for me and my family.”

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